Tag: Inland Empire

Santa Ana Winds FC will face defending USASA Region IV Champion and fellow UPSL Club Moreno Valley on Sunday at the Silver Lakes Soccer Complex in Norco at 5:30 pm, in the Cal South Adult State Cup quarter finals. The finalists qualify for the USASA Region IV championship, and the winner of that moves on to the USASA National Cup, contested by its three other regions.

Theses two clubs faced each other in week 2 of the current UPSL season in a high-scoring match that went “Mo Val’s” way 5-3. Winds FC’s defense struggled in that match allowing two “soft goals,” but their offense came alive in the 2nd half, and took control of the match with a late surge, scoring 3 goals.

This result vs Mo Val ended up being Winds FC’s only loss to date. Since then, they’ve won 6 in a row and sit in 2nd place, trailed by Mo Val in 3rd.

Analysis

A good team that keeps possession can make Moreno Valley struggle. This was made evident in their match vs La Máquina at Centennial Park in Santa Ana. La Máquina went down early on a failed clearance late in the 1st half, but took control of the match winning a majority of possession, and turned the game around to win 2-1. Winds FC will need to learn from that match, as they tend to concede a soft goal on occasion. They’ll need to tighten up and eliminate any mistakes that could prove costly in a tight knit match. Winds FC should play to their individual strengths, with their slew of players good at creating space for themselves.

I don’t expect this to be a high-scoring match, a repeat of week 2, with two teams that are in their best form of the season. Moreno Valley topped La Máquina 1-0 in UPSL play recently, and Winds FC defeated conference leader Strikers FC in the last round of the Adult a State Cup.